Fact #127178
When:
Short story:
Erskine Hawkins And His Orchestra record Tuxedo Junction, which will become Hawkin s' theme song, for Bluebird Records in the USA. The song is about a stop in Birmingham, Alabama, on what was known as The Chitlin Circuit - a number of theatres and other venues which featured live jazz and blues music in the early part of the 20th century.
Full article:
Duke Jethro (organist for B.B. King) : We used to play The Chitlin Circuit. It was a circuit of theatres, all in the black neighbourhoods, and you had to do well in those theatres to be stamped as a professional musician, if you will. One of them was The Howard Theatre in Washington D.C.; and of course there was The Apollo in New York; in Philadelphia there was The Uptown Theatre. In Baltimore there was The Royal Theatre, there was also a black theatre in Detroit, and if you were booked in one you were booked in them all. In Chicago there was The Regal Theatre, and that was where you got stamped as a professional entertainer in the black field.
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